The Portland daily press., 1887-09-20
NO CURE FOR CONSUMPTION YET.
Physicians Who Have Abandoned the
Bergeron Method After A Thorough
Tact
New York Tribune.


The Bergeron method of treating eonsump-
tion through the use of gaseous enemata
has attracted great deal Of attention among
physicians in private practice in this city,
and from those connected with its many hos
pitals. Charity and other hospital patients
suffering from tuberculosis, or phthisis,
have, been especially experimental upon.
Hospital physicians naturally took up the
method tentatively. An occasional case Is
reported where physician became an en-
thusiast on the subject DIR. Hogan, the
house surgeon Of the Charity Hospital, is
said to have been one who followed expert
ments on the Bergeron system for a time,
while his assistant, who has the direct and
personal charge of the patients, was scepti-
cal throughout and, it Is said, now declares
the method valueless.
The use Of gaseous enemata for the cure Of
consumption was taken up at Bellevue,
Charity, the Workhouse and New York hos
pitals, and at all of these institutions it now
seems to have been abandoned for the sim
pie reason that experiments have shown that
there sis nothing in the method" Sulphur
eted hydrogen, the gaseous agent employed,
this fact is one reason assigned for the
abandonment of this plan Of destruction of
tuberculosis. There Is a profound and elab-
crate mystery surrounding the results Of the
administration Of gaseous enemata at the
New York Hospital. Two Of the younger
physicians there employed under the house
surgeon, DR.. Richards, having made the in
tereSting statements given below, c0ndemna-
tory of the method. DIR. Richards himself
was on his vacation at the time. He has now
as to the results Of the enemata in prevent
ing or curing consumption DIR. Richards re-
piled: II prefer TO say nothing Of the matter
/ am preparing an article for THE Medical
Review and shall there state my conclusions.
The experiments are now only In their ten
tative stage. DIR. Richards retired into the
region of psychometric mystery, and had
nothing to say to the fact that his assistants,
ignorant Of his desires, had unwittingly pro-
claimed the Bergeron method a complete
failure. and they had personal charge OF the
cases, at least more than half OF them.
This blowing up process" said one Of the
doctors, twas a complete failure. | tried il
ON four patients. The effect of the use Of the
gas was rather startling. The patients alb
domen would be swelled up, as tight as q
drum and pains very much ike collie resulted.
The sulphureted hydrogen undoubtedly pass
ed almost Immediately into the lungs, but it
had no effect in staying the disease. The
method is pretty tough on the patient.
When gave the enemata before meals the
patients appetite would be destroyed and II
| gave them after meals vomiting would fol-
low.
The acting superintendent OF Bellevue
Hospital stated that the Bergeon system was
not in use there. The effects of the gaseous
enemata have in many cases been good and
encouraging for period OF some seven days /;
then patients have relapsed. The improve
ment for the short time mentioned Is assign
ed to mental causes; the patients, having
faith that they were to be benefited by the
treatment and throwing all their souls into
the belief, exercise upon themselves the in
fluence which Is said to be brought to bear
in instances of marked faith cures"
DIR. A. N. Collins, a physician Of acute
perception, who had eleven cases Of c0nsump-
tion under his charge at the time the Ber-
geon method had its run, and who tried ID
on these patients at the Workhouse Hospital
on BlackwelPs Island, states that he has lost
all faith In that yaunted cure. "The theory
In the use OF gaseous enemata, said he the
other day at the Bellevue Hospital, 'is
that phthisis depends upon the presence OF
bacilli and that sulphurete6 hydrogen is a
germicide or anticeptic. The gas is intro
duced as an enema and is rapidly absored in
to the circulation, going quickly to the right
heart and thence to the lungs. The great
difficulty in treating tuberculosis has been to
bring any gaseous or other substance into
contact with the lung tissue, which Is so
sensitive that direct contact with 1t Is i'm
possible. 90 lar as SuTulOuutlnE Lne ulfIlcul-
ty Is concerned, there Is no doubt whatever
that the use Of gaseous enemata has been a
successful experiment, for you can smell sui
phureted hydrogen In the patients breath
within very short time after its introduc.
tion into the alimentary canal; this fact
showing that 1t is quickly introduced into
the circulation and thence conveyed through
the heart to the lungs.
II had eleven consumptives under my
care at the Workhouse Hospital and in each
case there was an improvement for about a
week. This was probably a moral effect.
The patient was aware that new method,
promising greVt results for good. as alleged.
was being tried, so that the mental effect
helped him for a time. Then came relapse
into the former condition. In no case was
there permanent benefit derived. The
weeks temporary improvement was effected
in the same way with a person who did not
have tuberculosis. Gaseous enemata have
been used with good effect, | am told. in
cases Of sporadic asthma. But the general
idea now prevalent among physicians Is
that this method Of treatment Is a failure.
1t has been dropped at Bellevue. at the
Charity Hospital and on the islands for this